Not many CEOs have been in charge of a company for 30 years, let alone a company in the rapidly changing technology industry.

But there is Bill Smith, who came from Pittsburgh and started a software company in Orange County because he thought it would be fun. He always wanted to sell stuff and he certainly got to do that at Smith Micro.

The former computer salesman launched the company in 1982 and began making connection-management software for devices from fax machines to smartphones. His business grew to more than 500 employees, went public and acquired 16 companies.

Throughout the years, however, technology changes and the economy upended Smith Micro's business over and over, forcing the CEO to dramatically reinvent the company's products and, at times, make painful layoffs.

For 65-year-old Smith, the only constant in his world is change, followed by the need to adapt, restructure and embrace a new reality.

"You can't get wildly down on the bad days and wildly up on the good days," he said. "It's about staying at a sane level, keeping the team focused and functioning."

Smith worked stints at RCA and Xerox selling mainframe computers, then moved to Rockwell International, where he bought computer systems for the company and launched Smith Micro on the side.

A decade before the Internet started catching on, Smith created the company's first product: stock management software that enabled users to record transactions, use a modem to access early Web-like services and find the latest stock prices.

He asked potential clients if they wanted to bundle the software with their modems but few people wanted that and it wasn't a big seller. When clients countered – requesting easy-to-use software to navigate those early online services – Smith learned a key lesson: Always listen to your customers. His answer became the genesis of the QuickLink brand and grew the company into more than just Smith and his then-wife, Rhonda. The software connected to and navigated those early online services then morphed into fax communications and dial-up modem connection-management software.

Smith founded the company in Huntington Beach, then moved to Aliso Viejo in 1992 – long before the city built up around it.

"They were one of the first tech companies that moved down this way," said Bill Phillips, a longtime City Council member and Aliso Viejo resident since 1989. "There are a lot of companies that have come and gone in less time. That in and of itself is impressive."

On Sept. 18, 1995, the company went public, planning to provide software to connect analog modems to the Internet. Smith still remembers that day vividly and seeing the SMSI stock symbol scroll by on the TV for the first time. His company sold 3.4 million shares at $12 each.

Then the industry shifted.

Growth in the analog modem market disappeared within a few years of the public offering. The slow dial-up modems of the day couldn't get any faster. The gadgets were replaced by far faster DSL and cable modem technology, and those devices didn't need Smith Micro's software. The company had become too dependent on one product and Smith implemented the first major layoffs, reducing to 30 employees from about 80.

"That was a humbling experience," he said. "When things are great, you're hiring. That's exciting. When things aren't so great, you have to lay off. It's just the way it works."

Smith tried several things to turn the company around, including buying a firm that made desktop video conferencing software years before companies like Skype existed. Bandwidth constraints of the late 1990s, however, limited the quality of the experience and, thus, its appeal.

"We would take it to trade shows and they would stand 10 people deep to watch what was going on. But people were really reticent to buy it," Smith said.

Bill Smith is the 30-year CEO of Smith Micro in Aliso Viejo helping the company survive three decades of technology shifts. CHAS METIVIER, FOR THE REGISTER
Smith Micro software is located in Aliso Viejo. CEO Bill Smith has helped the company survive three decades of technology shifts. CHAS METIVIER, FOR THE REGISTER
Bill Smith, the 30-year CEO of Smith Micro in Aliso Viejo, has a three-decade survival story to tell -- the company has been public since the '90s and you can see major shifts in technology recorded in its stock price, from just a couple cents to more than $30. CHAS METIVIER, FOR THE REGISTER

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